Aux 33 Tours owner Pierre Markotanyos shifted to online sales when the COVID-19 crisis started and the reaction from customers has been positive, with a flood of orders.Allen McInnis / Montreal Gazette

Within 48 hours of the Quebec government shutting down all non-essential stores in March, the folks at Aux 33 Tours had created a full-scale online store with close to 80,000 records for sale. Reaction was swift and enthusiastic, with the Mont-Royal Ave. E. store, one of the city’s leading vinyl retailers, receiving a flood of orders.

Aux 33 Tours, which didn’t sell online before the COVID-19 crisis, uses several delivery methods, including Canada Post for faraway deliveries and drivers in Montreal who are delivering around 100 packages around the city every day.

Stores in Montreal will be allowed to reopen May 25 under Premier François Legault’s plan — provided there isn’t another delay — but Aux 33 Tours owner Pierre Markotanyos doesn’t think he’ll open that day.

“My greatest fear is: What if we open up and we’re open for two or three weeks and one of my staff gets COVID, and I have to retrace the customers who have come into the store in the last three days and tell them to quarantine themselves? Then I’ll have to shut down and disinfect the whole store,” said Markotanyos.

“I don’t feel comfortable opening the store if I don’t feel I can protect my employees and protect my customers.”

Many book and record stores in Montreal have, like Aux 33 Tours, branched out into online sales to satisfy customers while the brick-and-mortar stores are closed due to government regulations.

Venerable McGill Ghetto used-book emporium The Word has received much positive reaction for its new online sales presence. At the beginning of the crisis, the store was offering a surprise book box where the customer would receive books selected by staff. They put the program on hold after a couple of weeks because it was complicated to manage, but say it will be back shortly. They still offer a surprise book option, and store manager Brendan King-Edwards says it is popular with people who want to send a present to someone they’re unable to see right now because of confinement rules.

King-Edwards says The Word will reopen May 25 and will continue selling online.

“If we’re being realistic, people are going to be spending more time at home and they’re not going to necessarily want to go out and go shopping,” said King-Edwards. “It’s not ideal for us, because we’re a historic location and one of the things people love about us is actually coming to the location.”

The Drawn & Quarterly bookstore on Bernard St. in Mile End also began online sales and delivery at the start of the COVID-19 crisis. The folks at Drawn & Quarterly said they were not sure if the store will reopen May 25.

Encore Books & Records on Sherbrooke St. W. in N.D.G. has taken an innovative approach to sales during the pandemic.

“Right now we’re delivering in N.D.G. once a week and we’re taking orders on Facebook,” said owner Sean Madden. “What we’re doing is putting up pictures of our sections and people can browse the pictures online and then they tell us which book from which picture number. It’s basically a community service.”

Note to readers: We know the speed and volume of coronavirus-related news is overwhelming and a little frightening. To help with that, our daily live blog synthesizes the most important coronavirus-related news, especially as it relates to life in Montreal and Quebec. Follow the updates for May 8.